Giving to the UCSB Sustainable Transportation Fund

The Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) at UCSB equips students, staff, and faculty with the resources they need to reduce their impact on the environment by choosing alternative means to commute to and from campus. TAP offers options such as unlimited local MTD bus use, complimentary on campus parking for a reduced amount of hours per month, access to the carpool match program, and complimentary emergency rides home. The Program is most heavily used by staff and faculty as well as students that do not live on or around campus. Currently, 94% of students commute to campus using alternative modes of transportation. We plan to increase the amount of staff and faculty that use alternative transportation for their commutes through TAP.

In addition, UCSB supports 15 vanpools that run throughout Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties reducing commuter miles, gasoline consumption, and GHG emissions. Alternative campus commuters can also benefit from bike lockers, showers, and clothes lockers as well as access to a car share program on campus.

“I value the vanpool program and probably wouldn’t be working here if it wasn’t available. My gas bills when I was driving myself were so high that I was thinking of changing jobs to something closer to home. When I was able to join the vanpool, it was like getting a $500 monthly raise. I so enjoyed being a passenger for about a year, but then we lost our drivers, and I was able to volunteer to drive because I knew the value of the program. The van starts in Camarillo…about 57 miles away with 3-5 people. We stop in Ventura and pick up the remaining passengers. With an average of 8 riders per van, we’re doing our part to reduce our impact on the environment too!”

— Debi Veder, UCen Admin employee

“Those supporting transportation alternatives are actively removing cars from local roads and replacing them with quiet bicycles, happy university employees, and a better university. The benefits offered by this program [TAP] have allowed me to live car-free all week for more than a decade. On the Obern bicycle trail, I ride along with famous faculty, graduate students, and neighborhood kids as we all make our way to school and work. The environmental benefits of alternative transportation far eclipse recycling and other forms of green. This is the way to turn financial support into clean air and happy employees. TAP helps me to enjoy the best work commute in America.”

Your donation to the Sustainable Transportation Fund can be used to upgrade campus infrastructure like bike paths and bike racks and lockers, and subsidize programs to expand the use of alternative transportation available to the campus community.